Archive for April, 2006

**When you arrive at college, you know no one, you’re in a strange place, and you can’t wait to go home and talk to the friends you left behind. But after a few weeks, a few months even, you make new friends and eventually get to the point where you don’t want to go home because you don’t want to miss a party on Friday or going to the club on Saturday.

The next time you do go home, it doesn’t quite feel like home anymore. Your little brothers and sisters have suddenly grown up and created a life that is better than spying on you. Nothing seems the same anymore, no matter how much you try not to notice or think it’s not true.

When this reality hits, it’s enormous, and the fact that no one understands doesn’t help. You find that old friends have moved on, and your parents get on your nerves even more – they don’t mean to, but they do. No one understands what you have been through, or why you have changed. Only your friends at school who go through it with you understand. And when you leave at the end of the year, you leave behind those friends, and take all the memories with you – the good, the bad and the ugly. It will hurt just as much to leave your new friends at school as it did to leave your old friends at home.

Home will never seem the same, and you won’t be able to bear the wait to go back in the fall for more fun times, crazy moments and new friends. It doesn’t do much good to explain this to anyone back home, because no matter how hard they try, they won’t understand. Some won’t even try. Family members don’t understand what you are thinking when you look around your house and notice that nothing is the same. They may say you’re imagining changes. The empty feeling you get when you realize how much things have changed and how much you have missed back home is hard to deal with.

But when you think about how much you experienced in college and how you have become more independent, that empty feeling will fade. You will be filled with memories of hanging out in your dorm room watching movies with new friends, and that warm night you went for a walk at 3 a.m. just to talk to a friend about a tough time. College things – the deep conversations, the late-night parties, hours spent laughing at nothing, sad moments when a friend is hurting – those are what will stand out the most in your mind. In the end, you will realize that college is one of the your best experiences.

i’ve been thinking about skipping the farewell – for those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s the LUMS equivalent of the “prom”, without the dates – anyway…been thinking about missing it. last year was great, it ran on for too long, but things went well – and we threw a good after-party. this year, the party might not even happen. apparently planning isn’t the 2007s forte, thus they don’t have money to do anything other then a measly dinner and a title! since all i was looking forward to was the party, i might as well skip the whole shingding if there isn’t one, go home, get some time with the parents, something i haven’t done in a while.

even if i manage to forget the party fiasco, and do attend the dinner, all dressed up in a sari, with hair all perfect and dressed to the hilt, i’m going to get bored halfway through the 430 titles. yep, 430 people will be called on stage to recieve a title – something people may or may not have suggested for them, mostly its a randomly picked song. we suggested that we could skip the whole title thing this year, why does everyone have to walk on stage like there’s a parade happening. but when the organizers (the 2007s) suggested it to the rest of my class, supposedly things were thrown at them…which is just stupid!

so there went my brilliant plan of just having a concert and dinner, now we have to sit through at least 7 hours of titles (1 minute per person (yeah right!) = 430 minutes or 7.something hours). thus, i’m thinking about skipping it – after all, it’s not a life altering experience…most of us will end up pissed at each other for one thing or the other, the food wil not be eaten (who can eat in a sari?) and the only tangible thing that we’ll get will be that one picture we get taken by the photographer at the photo booth (which i’ve heard they also don’t have money for!).

but i know that skipping it will mean i will have to hear the question “but why?” atleast a million times (ok, maybe just a few hundred) between the event and graduation…i’ll probably make history – no one misses their farewell – and end up becoming the outcast in the group…no pictures to share, no “d’you remember blah” conversations…

For a creative writing class, we had to write about someone on the periphery of our lives – then we were told to alter it based on the feedback we got from the teacher/TA/class.

Original:His day probably starts close to dawn, a trip to the market, a bike ride to LUMS. By the time the rest of us wake up and get to the store – for breakfast, or an early lunch – he’s midway through his day, though you couldn’t tell that from the way he reacts on seeing each and everyone of his customers. Always a smile, a reference to the previous week or the latest serial on TV. In the five minutes that you are in front of him, you have his attention, even if he has a backlog of orders he has to get to.

You would think, in all this talking, that he would mention his life, but he doesn’t. That’s because during the day, he’s one of the students, not a worker in LUMS who has to go back to a life where he can barely support his family, but someone who relates to the average person in front of him. And for the students, thats who he is, he’s the happy guy at the counter and if that’s what he has to limit himself to, he will.

But if you sit in the store and try and look deeper, you’ll see the stubborn spirit in him, the one that tells him to not care about authority and do things his way, you’ll see the wistful looks at the new watches and mobiles everyone’s sporting nowadays, the side glance at that hot girl who just ordered a juice, the stolen berries he just popped into his mouth and thinks no one noticed.

If you dig deeper, you can see who he is, and forget his circumstances, and that he’s behind the counter and not in front of it. He really is no different than everyone else in this place, he doesn’t have to try.Altered:The day starts close to dawn, a trip to the market, a bike ride to LUMS. By the time the customers start walking into the store – for breakfast, or an early lunch – it’s midway through the day, but the smile doesn’t reflect that. “Every customer is special, everyone must be talked to”, the mantra goes through his head, “Orders can be caught up with later. Who’s that new kid walking in the door? Never seen him before! Salam boss, freshie ho?” You would think, in all this talking, that he would mention his life, but he doesn’t. That’s because during the day, he’s one of the students, not a worker in LUMS who has to go back to a life where he can barely support his family, but someone who relates to the average person in front of him. And for these students, that’s who he is. The happy guy at the counter… “Raju this, Raju that”…the litany never stops. But somethings make it worth the while. The students treating him like he’s part of the gang. Being at the front line, watching it all happen. Joining in the revelry as the LUMS teams beat GIKI again. All this makes it worth it. It’s hard sometimes. Watching all the kids go about their life without a care. A four year education gauranteed by their parent’s bank accounts. But if he tries hard enough, he can be just like them, share a few laughs with the popular kids, eat the same food they eat, feel like he belongs. But there’s stubborn spirit in him, the one that tells him to not care about authority and do things his way, there are wistful looks at the new watches and mobiles everyone’s sporting nowadays, the side glance at that hot girl who just ordered a juice, the stolen berries no one notices. Dig deeper, and the real him is right there. Forget that he’s behind the counter and not in front of it. He really is no different than everyone else in this place, he doesn’t have to try.

I liked the original better – anyway – we don’t get graded on assignments during the course, so have no idea how I did…but me is liking this class 🙂